There is a frightening amount of evidence that the San Bernardino shooters did not act alone, with a full day of reporting at least 3 active shooters.  If anyone was listening to the news that day, we all remember that.  The reports of seeing them working in their garage with like-minded, unidentified people and the guns being straw-purchased for them illegally by their neighbor, all these signs and facts of the case point to the logical thought process that these shooters were part of a hate group, specifically a radical Islamic terror cell.  The fact that they themselves stated as much during the attack should not be ignored.  We need to understand that there is a growing hate group, a spreading, widening arm of Right-Wing Theocratic violence that stems from radical Muslim leadership.

As we’ve discussed on The Podcaste before:

https://thepodcaste.com/2016/05/17/international-day-against-homophobia/

There are places around the world where “death is the sentence” literally means that the government either kills gays or turns a blind eye to mob lynching of gays.

While Christians have a few radical and disgusting pastors here in the US, you’d have to go to Africa to find any such state support for violence against the LGBTQ community from Christians.  If you have an “Imam” and a “pastor” yelling at you as you come out of a club, they both would be thinking you are going to hell but typically, only a Muslim Imam thinks it’s important to SEND you there.  Before continuing this point I want to clarify something…

Homophobic Leaders are Gay

This is important to understand how the scary magic of gays can infect some people’s minds… you know, turn you gay?  Well, the “born this way” movement hasn’t caught on in all communities and many religious people in various communities think that being gay is a choice.  Science informs us that it is a choice… IF YOU ARE GAY!  A straight person doesn’t have the option to choose what he is going to be attracted to.  A heterosexual man deciding he’s gay as a choice makes as much sense as a man deciding he has an erection, you either have one or you don’t.

Directly to Homophobe:

Do you like men?  You do?  Okay, are you a man? Okay, you’re gay, and no, it’s not gays putting you in some kind of magically induced demonic trance, tricking your brain into craving sodomy.  Does that mean you should run out and have tons of gay relations?  No, of course not.  All this means is you should understand some people, like you, are gay, other people are not.  If you want to keep living a sodomy-free life, that’s your choice, just remember that being straight or gay WAS NOT YOUR CHOICE.

Care of Comedy Central, The Daily Show: Link

“There’s that curiosity?”  Buddy, when I was a teen there was already the internet, I can tell you, my curiosity was about how real do fake boobs feel, because I’m straight.  You’re gay, that’s fine, that’s who you are, just don’t be a dick to everyone else.

That being said, let’s go back to the titular issue, hate groups and hate speech are being ignored and we are focusing on guns, a form of technology and internet radicalization.

“But, THE NRA THOUGH!”

A lot of people are trying to blame the NRA for the shooting, specifically EVERY SHOOTING, because The NRA makes all guns, passes them out for free and their motto is “Go Forth and Kill!”  That makes sense to blame them, right?  The NRA is actually a gun safety group. They instruct people on how to properly use handguns and rifles. They specifically stand against murder and hate speech.  They do defend “the right to bear arms” in the Capitol,  but they do that for all, not just for rich, white men but for all Americans, Black, Asian and other and especially for women. The NRA does not promote hate and murder, they literally support self-empowerment through gun safety.  https://home.nra.org/

But they support people owning guns, and GUNS ARE BAD!! Right?

Guns are technology, they are an invention of mankind that could be used for many purposes.  That is not an over-simplification, that is a fact.  Saying that a form of technology is bad is a religious view, I don’t know what religion but it’s inherently based in some form of moral code that looks at technology as having a quantitative spiritual value of “evil” or “bad.”  Humans have guns.  We, as a species, have had guns for about a millennium, likely much longer.  Why is that important?  It’s important to note because blaming the USA and the NRA for all gun violence, even thinking that blaming them will stop gun violence in America is inherently flawed.  If we blamed the NRA and got rid of them, then magically got rid of all guns in America – no citizens with guns, police carrying whistles and the softest of rhetoric allowed only from politicians.  Just imagine how safe we’d all be- oh wait, the USA isn’t the only country on the planet and our cozy neighbor to the south has horrendous gun violence!

Remember, the dream is, no NRA, no “militarized police,” no “building a wall.” This starts spilling over in the US more than it already does:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2916766/Two-murders-day-horrific-kidnappings-police-don-t-dare-enter-Inside-ghost-towns-Mexico-s-Murder-Valley-one-deadliest-places-earth.html

The US isn’t the source of all the world’s guns:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modern_armament_manufacturersCountries 

Here’s a list of gun manufacturers by country:

That’s not even half the list and doesn’t reach US manufacturers, it’s just an illustration that we are NOT ALONE on this marble and just calling guns bad doesn’t make them go away.  Taking guns away from Americans is a dangerous and silly concept that would not prevent crime, war or even mass shootings or mass killings.  Focusing on the nebulous religious view that “guns” are bad, pardons the hate and ignorance that causes them to be dangerous in certain people’s hands.

Ignorance and Homophobia as State Laws:

Ignorance is preached from the government in some countries and have DEATH PENALTY FOR GAYS such as in Yemen, Iran, Nigeria (in Muslim states), Mauritania, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, UAE, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.  The ignorance of Sharia law and the hatefulness of its adherents is something we need to confront.  Educational organizations like the NRA are not murdering gays, as a matter of record, the majority of gun criminals were not in any way associated with the NRA nor educated by them and the vast majority of card carrying NRA members have never been convicted of committing any kind of violence against another human.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/

“Obviously, the shooting community does not commit many crimes.”

http://extranosalley.com/percentage-of-gun-crimes-committed-by-nra-members/

What can we do?

We can educate ourselves, we can even arm ourselves and yes, the NRA can help with both those things.  We can also be safer by identifying threats, seeing something and saying something, that stuff still matters.  The only issue is, now, you can’t just tell the FBI or DHS since the Federal government made it clear that they WILL ignore all legitimate threats if that threat is from a Muslim(a bit of an exaggeration but you get my point).  Tell the authorities but also tell your community and neighbors if you are threatened by a hate group.  Most importantly, be prepared to defend yourself, have a game plan.

The Future:

If we can understand that right-wing religious groups come in different shapes, sizes, races and religions and realize that Technology is something we can use and improve, we can advance.  Let’s imagine a future, different than the no-gun, open-border America discussed above, let’s see a future where guns are less effective for bad guys because we have better detection methods, remote detection using magnetic imaging.  Imagine clothing being bullet resistant so when bad people do shoot good people here or around the world it’s less lethal.  Imagine “smart guns” for open and efficient self-defense.  Imagine technology that could pull bullets out of the air!  We need to understand the world we live in, a world with guns and a world with right-wing hate groups, realize this is where we are and magic spells and incantations (legislation) and magical talismans (gun free zone signs) can’t help us.  What can help us is our imaginations, our instincts, and our ability to adapt and overcome.